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Mugilarasan M, Karthik R, Robin RS, Subbareddy B, Hariharan G, Anandavelu I, Jinoj TPS, Purvaja R, Ramesh R. Anthropogenic marine litter: An approach to environmental quality for India's southeastern Arabian Sea coast. Sci Total Environ 2023; 866:161363. [PMID: 36610620 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Revised: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic marine litter (AML), mainly plastic, is a global concern that is persistent and widespread. To prevent and mitigate this threat, we need to understand the magnitude and source of AML. There is limited knowledge about AML pollution on the Indian Coast. In this context, the present study examined the distribution, abundance, typology, and beach quality based on AML along 22 beaches on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Sea. A total of 4911 AML items were classified into 9 categories, weighing 16.79 kg, and retrieved from a total area of 8000 m2. The mean abundance and weight of AML in the current study were 0.45 ± 0.34 items/m2 and 1.53 ± 0.92 g/m2, respectively. Thottapally showed the most abundant AML among the studied beaches with 0.96 items/m2, followed by Azheekkal with 0.73 items/m2. Plastic, being the most common item, accounts for 77.6 % of all items and has a mean density of 0.35 items/m2 comprising hard plastic (22 %), thermocol (13 %), food wrappers (7 %), cigarette butts (7 %), plastic rope (6 %), and plastic cutlery (6 %). Hazardous anthropogenic litter (HAL) was maximum at Thottapally (17.71 %; 85 out of 480 items collected). Based on the cleanliness of beaches, they are graded "moderately clean" (63 %) by the General Index (GI), "clean" (54 %), and "moderately clean" (40 %) as calculated by the Clean Coast Index (CCI). Hazardous Anthropogenic Beach Litter Index (HABLI) classifies 72 % of beaches as "moderately safe", while the Environmental Status Index (ESI) rates 68 % of beaches as "mediocre". Besides, model simulations demonstrated the pathways of AML propagation, which correlate to the littoral and coastal current flow patterns over the region. Land-based activities were the crucial factors influencing AML distribution. The study highlighted the need for effective regional litter management strategies, policy instruments for the litter impact pathways, economic, regulatory, and behavioural management tools, which were also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Mugilarasan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - R Karthik
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - R S Robin
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India.
| | - B Subbareddy
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - G Hariharan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - I Anandavelu
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - T P S Jinoj
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - R Purvaja
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - R Ramesh
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
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Ranjani M, Veerasingam S, Venkatachalapathy R, Jinoj TPS, Guganathan L, Mugilarasan M, Vethamony P. Seasonal variation, polymer hazard risk and controlling factors of microplastics in beach sediments along the southeast coast of India. Environ Pollut 2022; 305:119315. [PMID: 35439596 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) and its associated organic and inorganic contaminants are one among the significant health hazards to almost all biota, including human. We investigated the polymer hazard risk and its adsorbed contaminants in MPs at six prominent beaches of Chennai on the southeast coast of India. The spatial variation of MPs during the northeast (NE) monsoon (range: 76-720 items/kg, mean: 247.4 items/kg) was higher than that during southwest (SW) monsoon (range: 84-498 items/kg, mean: 302.7 items/kg). In both the seasons, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) were the dominant polymers and fibre was the predominant shape of MPs, likely to be derived from fishing, textile and urban activities in this region. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images exhibited various surface weathering features including grooves, cracks, fractures, adhering particles, pits, vermiculate textures and fibre reinforcements. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) results showed that MPs have adsorbed major (Si, Al, Na, Mg, Ca, Fe and Ti) and trace (Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn) metals. Though pollution load index (PLI) presented low degree of MP contamination in the beach sediments, hazardous polymers such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyamide (PA) and polystyrene (PS) contributed to high polymer hazard index (PHI) and potential ecological risk index (PERI), posing very high risk to the biota. The trajectories obtained from particle-tracking coupled with hydrodynamic simulation clearly showed that 20% of MPs settled along the coast and the remaining moved towards north, alongshore and offshore (∼50 km) within 30 days, and in NE monsoon due to current reversal, the floating debris and MPs have drifted towards south, ∼40 km in 30 days, indicating the role of circulation in the fate and transport pathways of plastic debris.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Ranjani
- Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - S Veerasingam
- Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, P.O. Box: 2713, Qatar.
| | - R Venkatachalapathy
- Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - T P S Jinoj
- National Centre for Coastal Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Chennai, 600 100, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - L Guganathan
- Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - M Mugilarasan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - P Vethamony
- Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, P.O. Box: 2713, Qatar
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Robin RS, Purvaja R, Ganguly D, Hariharan G, Paneerselvam A, Sundari RT, Karthik R, Neethu CS, Saravanakumar C, Semanti P, Prasad MHK, Mugilarasan M, Rohan S, Arumugam K, Samuel VD, Ramesh R. COVID-19 restrictions and their influences on ambient air, surface water and plastic waste in a coastal megacity, Chennai, India. Mar Pollut Bull 2021; 171:112739. [PMID: 34304059 PMCID: PMC8458696 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Revised: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic activities experienced a pause due to the nationwide lockdown, imposed to contain the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the third week of March 2020. The impacts of suspension of industrial activities, vehicular transport and other businesses for three months (25 March-30 June) on the environmental settings of Chennai, a coastal megacity was assessed. A significant reduction in the key urban air pollutants [PM2.5 (66.5%), PM10 (39.5%), NO2 (94.1%), CO (29%), O3 (45.3%)] was recorded as an immediate consequence of the reduced anthropogenic activities. Comparison of water quality of an urban river Adyar, between pre-lockdown and lockdown, showed a substantial drop in the dissolved inorganic N (47%) and suspended particulate matter (41%) during the latter period. During the pandemic, biomedical wastes in India showed an overall surge of 17%, which were predominantly plastic. FTIR-ATR analysis confirmed the polymers such as polypropylene (25.4%) and polyester (15.4%) in the personal protective equipment.
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Affiliation(s)
- R S Robin
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R Purvaja
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - D Ganguly
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - G Hariharan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - A Paneerselvam
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R T Sundari
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R Karthik
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - C S Neethu
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - C Saravanakumar
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - P Semanti
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - M H K Prasad
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - M Mugilarasan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - S Rohan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - K Arumugam
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - V D Samuel
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R Ramesh
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India.
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Mugilarasan M, Karthik R, Purvaja R, Robin RS, Subbareddy B, Hariharan G, Rohan S, Jinoj TPS, Anandavelu I, Pugalenthi P, Ramesh R. Spatiotemporal variations in anthropogenic marine litter pollution along the northeast beaches of India. Environ Pollut 2021; 280:116954. [PMID: 33773306 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2020] [Revised: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/13/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Marine litter is widely distributed in marine environments and has been a severe concern worldwide, due to the disposal of waste from diverse sources. The severity of this threat has garnered increasing attention in India over the last decade, but the full consequences of this pollution are yet to be quantified. To estimate the spatiotemporal distribution, composition and beach quality of marine litter pollution, 17 beaches along the Hooghly estuary, a part of the Gangetic delta was studied. Marine litter was collected from 100 m long transects during two seasons (monsoon and post-monsoon). The OSPAR monitoring standard was applied to the 16,597 litter items collected, then grouped under 6 types and 44 categories. In terms of number, litter abundance was higher during monsoon (1.10 ± 0.39 items/m2) than that of post-monsoon (0.86 ± 0.32 items/m2). Most of the beaches were categorized as low cleanliness as computed by the general index and clean coast index and the good for the pellet pollution index. Hazardous litter constituted 6.5% of the total collected litter items. The model prediction revealed that the influence of high discharge from Hooghly, Rasulpur and Subarnarekha River carried enormous anthropogenic litter to the northeast beaches. The litter flux decreases with an increase in distance from the shore, and act as a sink to the sea-floor. The results denote that the distribution and typology of marine litter were representatives of household, tourism and fishing, which in turn highlights the need for better regional litter management measures. Suggested management practices include source reduction, mitigation, management of beach environment and change in littering behaviour through environmental education.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Mugilarasan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India
| | - R Karthik
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India.
| | - R Purvaja
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India
| | - R S Robin
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India
| | - B Subbareddy
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India
| | - G Hariharan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India
| | - S Rohan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India
| | - T P S Jinoj
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India
| | - I Anandavelu
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India
| | - P Pugalenthi
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India
| | - R Ramesh
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India.
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Ranjani M, Veerasingam S, Venkatachalapathy R, Mugilarasan M, Bagaev A, Mukhanov V, Vethamony P. Assessment of potential ecological risk of microplastics in the coastal sediments of India: A meta-analysis. Mar Pollut Bull 2021; 163:111969. [PMID: 33515857 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.111969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 111] [Impact Index Per Article: 37.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2020] [Revised: 01/04/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2021] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Abundance, chemical composition and ecological risk of microplastics (MPs) in terrestrial and marine environments have merited substantial attention from the research communities. This is the first attempt to comprehend the ecological risk of MPs in sediments along the Indian coast using meta-data. Polymer hazard index (PHI), pollution load index (PLI) and potential ecological risk index (PERI) were used to evaluate the quality of sediments. Areas have high PHI values (>1000) due to the presence of polymers with high hazard scores such as polyamide (PA) and polystyrene (PS). According to PLI values, sediments along the west coast of India (WCI) are moderately contaminated with MPs (PLI: 3.03 to 15.5), whereas sediments along the east coast of India (ECI) are less contaminated (PLI: 1 to 6.14). The PERI values of sediments along the Indian coast showed higher ecological risk for the metropolitan cities, river mouths, potential fishing zones and the remote islands.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Ranjani
- Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - S Veerasingam
- Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, P.O. Box: 2713, Qatar.
| | - R Venkatachalapathy
- Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - M Mugilarasan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Andrei Bagaev
- Department of Shelf Hydrophysics, Federal Research Center Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS, Sevastopol 299011, Russia
| | - Vladimir Mukhanov
- A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of RAS, Sevastopol, Russia
| | - P Vethamony
- Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, P.O. Box: 2713, Qatar
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Robin RS, Karthik R, Purvaja R, Ganguly D, Anandavelu I, Mugilarasan M, Ramesh R. Holistic assessment of microplastics in various coastal environmental matrices, southwest coast of India. Sci Total Environ 2020; 703:134947. [PMID: 31734498 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Revised: 10/10/2019] [Accepted: 10/10/2019] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Plastics in the marine environment are introduced through multiple pathways, and pose serious threats to aquatic biota. Recently microplastic pollution and its possible consequences in India have been recognized by the scientific community, however the extent of the crisis has not yet been quantified. The present study attempted to ascertain the abundance, distribution and characteristics of microplastics in coastal waters (14 locations), beach sediments (22 locations) and marine fishes (11 locations) from the state of Kerala, southwest coast of India. The results showed that the mean microplastic abundance was 1.25 ± 0.88 particles/m3 in coastal waters and 40.7 ± 33.2 particles/m2 in beach sediments with higher concentrations in the southern coast of the state. The abundance of microplastics, mostly contributed by fragments, fibre/line and foam, in both coastal waters and beach sediments, were highly influenced by river runoff and proximity to urban agglomeration. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy-Attenuated Total Reflection (FTIR-ATR) revealed that polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) were the dominant polymers in the marine environment. The digestive tracts of 15 out of 70 commercially important fishes studied, contained 22 microplastic particles. Polyethylene (PE; 38.46%) followed by cellulose (CE; 23.08%), rayon (RY; 15.38%), polyester (PL; 15.38%) and polypropylene (PP; 7.69%) were the major contributors in the fish ingested microplastic composition. A broad range of heavy metals, metalloids and other elements that are potentially indicative of hazardous chemicals were present in microplastics collected from the beaches of Kerala. These results enhance our understanding on the sources, transport pathways and the associated environmental risks of microplastics to marine ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- R S Robin
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - R Karthik
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - R Purvaja
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - D Ganguly
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - I Anandavelu
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - M Mugilarasan
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India
| | - R Ramesh
- National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai 600 025, India.
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Veerasingam S, Mugilarasan M, Venkatachalapathy R, Vethamony P. Influence of 2015 flood on the distribution and occurrence of microplastic pellets along the Chennai coast, India. Mar Pollut Bull 2016; 109:196-204. [PMID: 27287866 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.05.082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 115] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2016] [Revised: 05/30/2016] [Accepted: 05/31/2016] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
The sources, distribution, surface features, polymer composition and age of microplastic pellets (MPPs) in surface sediments along the Chennai coast during March 2015 (pre-Chennai flood) and November 2015 (post-Chennai flood) were characterised using a Stereoscopic microscope and FTIR-ATR spectroscopy. White MPPs were the most abundant, and specifically polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) were the dominant polymer types of MPPs found on the coast during both the times. The abundance of MPPs in November 2015 was three-fold higher than those found in March 2015, confirming that huge quantity of fresh MPPs washed through Cooum and Adyar rivers from land during the flood. The winds and surface currents during November were the driving forces for the transportation and deposition of MPPs from the sea to beaches. The results of this study will be useful to formulate beach MPPs litter management policies to effectively create long-term solutions.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Veerasingam
- CSIR - National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula 403 004, Goa, India.
| | - M Mugilarasan
- Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University, Parangipettai 608 502, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - R Venkatachalapathy
- Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar 608 102, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - P Vethamony
- CSIR - National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula 403 004, Goa, India
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